Coming Home – Part the First
(very long – feel free to ignore)
Monday was debarkation day. I woke around 5 and peeked out – we were moving veeeery slowly into the berth. It promised to be a very crowded, insane day, as 3 cruise ships were disgorging their passengers all at once. Ours (Sapphire Princess) was the largest with around 2400 passengers, more or less. Norwegian Sea had around 2000, then there was a Silversea vessel – I think it was Silver Cloud and it had about 250 passengers.
Anyway, we showered, dressed, had breakfast, then gave the room one last check, grabbed our carry-on bags, and headed to the theater. Depending on your final day plans, you had color-coded stickers stuck to your person and there were signs indicating which group sat where. We were Purple 21 and we gathered with the rest of the purples till our group was called. At that point, we were led to Deck 4 where we did our final check-out so they knew we were gone, and we headed to the shuttle bus.
Thankfully, we got seats. Poor FCD was really hurting, even with his meds. Between the fall at Falklands, the walking, and carrying a fairly heavy carry-on, he had a hard time. I’m glad I gave him the shoulder strap for the bag – at least he could sling it on, and I just dealt with the achy fingers as I toted my equally heavy tote. He also had his cane, but he said it hurt more to use it than it helped, and he just left it on the bus. I’m sure it caused no small amount of concern later that day. Anyway, we joined the line of busses going to and waiting at the terminal.
So, envision a big warehouse sort of room with all of these people rooting thru lines and lines of luggage, trying to claim their bags so they could get thru Argentine Customs. Lucky for us, a decade or so ago, I bought these bags:
and between the color and the yellow tags, I managed to find them pretty quickly.
Unfortunately, no one bothered to consider what a goat-rope it was to have that many people in one place trying to pass thru 3 or 4 Customs stations. There were a few rails in place to create the queue, but no one was there to manage to crowd, so line-cutters abounded, leading to many words of unpleasant description. But we merged and made our way forward. We had to put every bag thru x-ray and someone had to look at our passports, but honestly, I suspect they were just trying to clear us all out as fast as they could.
Once done with that, we wheeled our bags to the truck that would take them to the airport, and we joined another mass of bodies in a parking lot waiting for our group to be called for our city tour– the final excursion I’d booked so we wouldn’t spend all day at the airport. The wait wasn’t too awful long, and soon we were in a fairly comfy air-conditioned bus listening to Patricia describe what we were seeing. We made two stops, and I got to use my 50-y/o high school Spanish at the second stop to order 2 croissants (medialunas) and a couple of sodas.
I should mention that the tour guide told us Argentina is dealing with 200% inflation, which led to a president being voted out and recent protests. Fortunately, our bus got past the square where the protests happened before they started. And I bring up the inflation to tell you that the bill for our snack came to just under $7 and we gave the waiter a $5 bill (we hadn’t changed any money) because, dang, 200% inflation?? He was an old guy, very efficient, and maybe it will make his day a bit brighter.
One of the most memorable parts of the tour was right after we had our snack. We saw this tree – OMG, it was amazing. When I get around to uploading and sorting my photos, I’ll share a couple that I took of this monster. I just couldn’t get over it! That was our last stop before being hauled to the airport.
Buenos Aires Airport – I do not recommend. What a fiasco!! When we got off our bus, we collected our bags (huzzah for the red!!) and headed inside. As an aside, they had luggage carts all over the place that were free to use, so FCD snagged one. We saw the identical carts in Miami but they cost $9!! But I think I’d have gladly paid $20 for a cart that day. We walked, and walked, and walked, but no seats were to be found. As might be expected, the airport was full of departing cruisers, as well as non-cruiser travelers. We couldn’t check in till 7:30 that evening (4 hours before our flight) and we arrived there around 1:30 – yep, long wait. We claimed a plot of floor not to terribly far from where we’d check in and settled in to wait. I believe I mentioned a McLunch stop on the way to the gate - or was that on FB??
As you might expect, geezers and floors don’t mix well. And our easily-identified suitcases are soft-sided, so not good for use as seats. FCD did sorta get settled, lying on his back or his side. I tried sitting on the floor, on my folded hoodie on the floor, and on my carry-on (which was just full of clothing) and even on the corner of a red bag while it sat on the cart. My butt could take it only so long. I took a few walks, getting snacks at one point. I took a potty break. I walked back and forth from the status board to see when and where we’d check in.
Shortly after 6PM, FCD was walking and he found a couple of seats, so we planted our butts in relative comfort. I should mention all the while we waited, we did have free WiFi, but there were no charging stations. Thankfully, we had enough battery as we’d charged everything on the ship before leaving. I tried to minimize my tablet time, plus I just couldn’t spend all day on the floor playing games.
The extra cost for Premium Economy entitled us to Priority check-in – a much shorter line than the cattle call, but even at that, it was close to 30 minutes to get our boarding passes and surrender our bags. Then we had to abandon our cart and carry our totes up the elevator to the International security screening area. Once there, an attendant directed us to a priority line – I think because FCD was looking pretty bad/raggedy at that point. To our left, we saw the snaking queue of hundreds of folks waiting for the non-priority screening, and we lucked out, even without his cane in hand!
Unfortunately, we had to join another cattle call to get thru the customs area – no priority there. But again, the wait wasn’t too terrible – by that point they separated those who could use some kiosks (frequent travelers, I assume) from Argentine natives from the rest of us, so three separate lines. We got our passports looked at and blessed (I guess) and we were finally able to go to the boarding area. Following another hike, of course. And, of course, our flight hadn’t been assigned a boarding gate. We found a table near several restaurants and a Starbucks (ick) and we planted ourselves. I ordered us an empanada and a soda (didn’t realize empanada were so small, or I’d have gotten more.) I knew we’d get dinner on the plane and this was just a snack to get us by.
FCD was watching a movie he’d downloaded to his tablet and I kept checking the Departure board. There were only a couple other American Airlines flights and both had been assigned to gate 4. I decided to hike down there to see if we’d end up there. Hike was the right word – holy crap! I’m glad I’d gone alone – it probably would have killed my poor sweetie at that point. And as I was walking back, I got a text saying we’d board at gate 16. Cool – that was lots closer. And it was close enough to boarding time that we decided to go there.
Except there was a very small, local jet at gate 16 and it looked like they were using that spot to do some maintenance. Gate 17 was loading a Delta flight, and when I asked about the flight to Miami, I was told Gate 19. Well, yeah, there was a flight to Miami there – on Argentine Airlines. But we talked to another passenger in the waiting area at 16 and he assured us it was the right place. One of the other people waiting was a flight attendant assigned to our flight and she said while the plane was in the airport, it hadn’t gotten to the gate yet. Turns out, it was waiting for the Delta plane to leave. But finally it was time to board.
This is where it got too weird. Every.single.carry-on was hand inspected at the gate. Every one of them! For whatever reason, they didn’t allow water bottles to be brought aboard. It really pissed off some passengers who’d specifically bought water in the gate area. Fortunately, we weren’t among them, and we got thru with no issues. Except on the way down the jetway, FCD said his legs were about to give out. Still, he wouldn’t let me take his bag – pig-headed old man!! 
Luckily, our seats were just inside and to the right of the entry, so he was able to sit right away.
I may have mentioned in another MMP that Premium Economy also got you reserved overhead compartments, so the people sitting in the ass-end of the plane couldn’t fill up forward compartments for their convenience. Except the woman sitting right behind us (I figured this out later) placed her big-ass purse in the compartment over our seats, so we had to use one across the aisle, to the chagrin of the woman sitting there. To be fair, there were 2 over her seat, so she had plenty of space. Anyway, we got settled in. Then I had to pull FCD’s bag out so he could take his pain meds, and at that point, I crammed his bag in next to the big-ass purse, leaving my bag and my hoodie in the other one.
Boarding took a while because of the stupid bag check, and I was concerned that we’d be rushed to make our connection in Miami, but it turns out we were only about 15 minutes late getting on our way. Once we were at altitude, we had supper (stahvink by then!!!) and for the rest of the flight, we mostly slept. I would wake with my head bent forward, causing a literal pain in my neck, but I’d doze off again. It wasn’t the most restful sleep, but it helped.
About an hour anna half outside of Miami, they served breakfast (again, a perk of Premium Economy) and we got our Diet Coke fixes. Once we landed (a little bit early, believe it or not), we were the first off the plane behind 1st class. And thus endeth this chapter
On the plus side, we were able to plug in our tablets. FCD watched the end of his movie and I played some games. We were served cookies and our second Diet Coke fix of the day! The woman who started out sitting next to me was traveling with the woman behind her – they worked together. So before we took off, she decided to sit beside her coworker and work, leaving me with an empty seat beside me. Too bad the armrests didn’t lift, but it was still nice to have some space I could use.
But a nice story/memory of what had to be a tragic time.
). There’s a little work I want to do on our SharePoint site that needs to wait until 5pm, but it should be quick – just moving some folders – and I’m hoping to wrap up the workday by 5:30pm. I’m even caught up on my volunteer-related stuff (for the moment), so once I log off I can just chill.
) happiness in ShoeWorld!!1!!!111!